Meter Reader

Yes, I moonlight as a Meter Reader.   My meter reads my blood glucose level.  I put a test strip into the meter, poke my finger with a small needle (lancet) and put a drop of blood on the test strip.  The blood gets sucked into the strip and in a few seconds the meter "reads" what my blood sugar level is and displays a number on the screen.  According to WebMD, a fasting blood sugar (not eating for 8 hours) should be 70-99 mg/dL, a postprandial blood sugar level (2 hours after eating) should be 70-145 mg/dL and a random blood sugar level should be 70-125 mg/dL.

My blood sugar goal is 100 mg/dL.  It seems like I rarely meet this goal.  OK, I hardly ever meet this goal.  In fact, I hardly ever meet any of those recommendations.  I am supposed to check my blood sugar 4 times a day (fasting, before lunch, before dinner, before bedtime.)  Some days I do this and some days I don't.  Let's just say that I do much better testing myself when I am on a schedule during the school year (having the summer off tends to make me get a little bit lazy!)

The wonderful thing about my meter-remote (One Touch ping) is that it works together with my insulin pump.  "Blood glucose results, bolus calculations, and bolus delivery instructions can be sent from the meter-remote to the insulin pump from approximately 10 feet away.  In fact, the meter-remote can actually calculate a bolus, and then tell the pump to deliver it - so your pump can be tucked away when you choose.  There is no need to pull out the pump - it can stay clipped to a belt, tucked in a pocket, or stashed under clothing" (http://www.onetouch.ca/english/prodsubpage_detail.asp?cat=1&gr=3&pid=60&prs=19.) 

Basically this means that I can give myself insulin by just using the buttons on my meter-remote, without even touching my pump!  This is a new feature to me, since I got my One Touch ping pump and meter in February.  I love, LoVe, LOVE this feature!!!

Here is my meter-remote

And here are my test strips (the bottom part goes into the meter and the blood goes into the top)